Vaping heat map system and method for electronic vapor provision systems

ABSTRACT

A method of generating of a map of vaping action events includes receiving respective notifications of a vaping action for each of a plurality of electronic vapor provision systems, logging GPS coordinates in response to detection of the vaping action, transmitting one or more logged sets of GPS coordinates to a vaping heat map server, and updating a vaping action count in one or more map regions in the map of vaping action events responsive to the transmitted GPS coordinates.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 15/764,213 filedMar. 28, 2018, which in turn is a National Phase entry of PCTApplication No. PCT/GB2016/052829, filed Sep. 14, 2016, which claimspriority from GB Patent Application No. 1517089.7, filed Sep. 28, 2015,each of which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a vaping heat map system and methodfor electronic vapor provision systems such as electronic nicotinedelivery systems (e.g. e-cigarettes).

BACKGROUND

Electronic vapor provision systems, such as e-cigarettes and otheraerosol delivery systems, generally contain a reservoir of liquid whichis to be vaporized, typically nicotine (this is sometimes referred to asan “e-liquid”). When a user inhales on the device, an electrical (e.g.resistive) heater is activated to vaporize a small amount of liquid, ineffect producing an aerosol which is therefore inhaled by the user. Theliquid may comprise nicotine in a solvent, such as ethanol or water,together with glycerine or propylene glycol to aid aerosol formation,and may also include one or more additional flavors. The skilled personwill be aware of many different liquid formulations that may be used ine-cigarettes and other such devices.

The practice of inhaling vaporized liquid in this manner is commonlyknown as “vaping.”

An e-cigarette may have an interface to support external datacommunications. This interface may be used, for example, to load controlparameters and/or updated software onto the e-cigarette from an externalsource. Alternatively or additionally, the interface may be utilized todownload data from the e-cigarette to an external system. The downloadeddata may, for example, represent usage parameters of the e-cigarette,fault conditions, etc. As the skilled person will be aware, many otherforms of data can be exchanged between an e-cigarette and one or moreexternal systems (which may be another e-cigarette).

In some cases, the interface for an e-cigarette to perform communicationwith an external system is based on a wired connection, such as a USBlink using a micro, mini, or ordinary USB connection into thee-cigarette. The interface for an e-cigarette to perform communicationwith an external system may also be based on a wireless connection. Sucha wireless connection has certain advantages over a wired connection.For example, a user does not need any additional cabling to form such aconnection. In addition, the user has more flexibility in terms ofmovement, setting up a connection, and the range of pairing devices.

Note that many e-cigarettes already provide support for a USB interfacein order to allow the e-cigarette to be re-charged. Accordingly, theadditional use of such a wired interface to also provide datacommunications is relatively straightforward. However, the situation forproviding a wireless data connection is more complex.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method ofgenerating a map of vaping action events.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a methodof retrieving a map of vaping action events.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided anelectronic vapor provision system.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a mobilecommunication device.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vapingmap server.

Further respective aspects and features of the disclosure are defined inthe appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described by way ofexample with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic (exploded) diagram of an e-cigarette in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the main electrical/electroniccomponents of the e-cigarette of FIG. 1 in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram of the processor of thee-cigarette of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of wireless communications between thee-cigarette of FIG. 1 and a mobile communication device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic (exploded) diagram of the cartomizer of ane-cigarette in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic (exploded) diagram of the vaporizer from thecartomizer of FIG. 5 in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a mobile communication device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a vaping policy alert system inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a vaping policy server in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method of providing a vaping policy alertby a mobile communications device in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method of generating a map of vapingaction events in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of a method of retrieving a map of vapingaction events in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A vaping heat map system and method for electronic vapor provisionsystems are disclosed. In the following description, a number ofspecific details are presented in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It will beapparent, however, to a person skilled in the art that these specificdetails need not be employed to practice the present disclosure.Conversely, specific details known to the person skilled in the art areomitted for the purposes of clarity where appropriate.

As described above, the present disclosure relates to an electronicvapor provision system, such as an e-cigarette. Throughout the followingdescription the term “e-cigarette” is used; however, this term may beused interchangeably with electronic vapor provision system, aerosoldelivery device, and other similar terminology.

FIG. 1 is a schematic (exploded) diagram of an e-cigarette 10 inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure (not to scale). Thee-cigarette 10 comprises a body or control unit 20 and a cartomizer 30.The cartomizer 30 includes a reservoir 38 of liquid, typically includingnicotine, a heater 36, and a mouthpiece 35. The e-cigarette 10 has alongitudinal or cylindrical axis which extends along the center-line ofthe e-cigarette 10 from the mouthpiece 35 at one end of the cartomizer30 to the opposing end of the control unit 20 (usually referred to asthe tip end). This longitudinal axis is indicated in FIG. 1 by thedashed line denoted LA.

The liquid reservoir 38 in the cartomizer 30 may hold the (e-)liquiddirectly in liquid form, or may utilize some absorbing structure, suchas a foam matrix or cotton material, etc., as a retainer for the liquid.The liquid is then fed from the reservoir 38 to be delivered to avaporizer comprising the heater 36. For example, liquid may flow viacapillary action from the reservoir 38 to the heater 36 via a wick (notshown in FIG. 1).

In other devices, the liquid may be provided in the form of plantmaterial or some other (ostensibly solid) plant derivative material. Inthis case the liquid can be considered as representing volatiles in thematerial which vaporize when the material is heated. Note that devicescontaining this type of material generally do not require a wick totransport the liquid to the heater, but rather provide a suitablearrangement of the heater in relation to the material to providesuitable heating.

The control unit 20 includes a re-chargeable cell or battery 54 toprovide power to the e-cigarette 10 (referred to hereinafter as abattery) and a printed circuit board (PCB) 28 and/or other electronicsfor generally controlling the e-cigarette 10.

The control unit 20 and the cartomizer 30 are detachable from oneanother, as shown in FIG. 1, but are joined together when the device 10is in use, for example, by a screw or bayonet fitting. The connectors onthe cartomizer 30 and the control unit 20 are indicated schematically inFIG. 1 as 31B and 21A respectively. This connection between the controlunit 20 and cartomizer 30 provides for mechanical and electricalconnectivity between the two.

When the control unit 20 is detached from the cartomizer 30, theelectrical connection 21A on the control unit 20 that is used to connectto the cartomizer 30 may also serve as a socket for connecting acharging device (not shown). The other end of this charging device canbe plugged into a USB socket to re-charge the battery 54 in the controlunit 20 of the e-cigarette 10. In other implementations, the e-cigarette10 may be provided (for example) with a cable for direct connectionbetween the electrical connection 21A and a USB socket.

The control unit 20 is provided with one or more holes for air inletadjacent to PCB 28. These holes connect to an air passage through thecontrol unit to an air passage provided through the connector 21A. Thisthen links to an air path through the cartomizer 30 to the mouthpiece35. Note that the heater 36 and the liquid reservoir 38 are configuredto provide an air channel between the connector 31B and the mouthpiece35. This air channel may flow through the center of the cartomizer 30,with the liquid reservoir 38 confined to an annular region around thiscentral path. Alternatively (or additionally) the airflow channel maylie between the liquid reservoir 38 and an outer housing of thecartomizer 30.

When a user inhales through the mouthpiece 35, air is drawn into thecontrol unit 20 through the one or more air inlet holes. This airflow(or the associated change in pressure) is detected by a sensor, e.g. apressure sensor, which in turn activates the heater 36 to vaporize thenicotine liquid fed from the reservoir 38. The airflow passes from thecontrol unit into the vaporizer, where the airflow combines with thenicotine vapor. This combination of airflow and nicotine vapor (ineffect, an aerosol) then passes through the cartomizer 30 and out of themouthpiece 35 to be inhaled by a user. The cartomizer 30 may be detachedfrom the control unit 20 and disposed of when the supply of nicotineliquid is exhausted (and then replaced with another cartomizer).

It will be appreciated that the e-cigarette 10 shown in FIG. 1 ispresented by way of example only, and many other implementations may beadopted. For example, in some implementations, the cartomizer 30 issplit into a cartridge containing the liquid reservoir 38 and a separatevaporizer portion containing the heater 36. In this configuration, thecartridge may be disposed of after the liquid in reservoir 38 has beenexhausted, but the separate vaporizer portion containing the heater 36is retained. Alternatively, an e-cigarette 10 may be provided with acartomizer 30 as shown in FIG. 1, or else constructed as a one-piece(unitary) device, but the liquid reservoir 38 is in the form of a(user-)replaceable cartridge. Further possible variations are that theheater 36 may be located at the opposite end of the cartomizer 30 fromthat shown in FIG. 1, i.e. between the liquid reservoir 38 and themouthpiece 35, or else the heater 36 is located along a central axis LAof the cartomizer 30, and the liquid reservoir is in the form of anannular structure which is radially outside the heater 35.

The skilled person will also be aware of a number of possible variationsfor the control unit 20. For example, airflow may enter the control unit20 at the tip end, i.e. the opposite end to connector 21A, in additionto or instead of the airflow adjacent to PCB 28. In this case theairflow would typically be drawn towards the cartomizer 30 along apassage between the battery 54 and the outer wall of the control unit20. Similarly, the control unit 20 may comprise a PCB located on or nearthe tip end, e.g. between the battery 54 and the tip end. Such a PCB maybe provided in addition to or instead of PCB 28.

Furthermore, an e-cigarette may support charging at the tip end, or viaa socket elsewhere on the device, in addition to or in place of chargingat the connection point between the cartomizer and the control unit. (Itwill be appreciated that some e-cigarettes are provided as essentiallyintegrated units, in which case a user is unable to disconnect thecartomizer from the control unit.) Other e-cigarettes may also supportwireless (induction) charging, in addition to (or instead of) wiredcharging.

The above discussion of potential variations to the e-cigarette shown inFIG. 1 is by way of example. The skilled person will aware of furtherpotential variations (and combination of variations) for the e-cigarette10.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the main functional components of thee-cigarette 10 of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. N.B. FIG. 2 is primarily concerned with electricalconnectivity and functionality—it is not intended to indicate thephysical sizing of the different components, nor details of theirphysical placement within the control unit 20 or cartomizer 30. Inaddition, it will be appreciated that at least some of the componentsshown in FIG. 2 located within the control unit 20 may be mounted on thecircuit board 28. Alternatively, one or more of such components mayinstead be accommodated in the control unit 20 to operate in conjunctionwith the circuit board 28, but not physically mounted on the circuitboard 28 itself. For example, these components may be located on one ormore additional circuit boards, or they may be separately located (suchas battery 54).

As shown in FIG. 2, the cartomizer 30 contains heater 310 which receivespower through connector 31B. The control unit 20 includes an electricalsocket or connector 21A for connecting to the corresponding connector31B of the cartomizer 30 (or potentially to a USB charging device). Thisthen provides electrical connectivity between the control unit 20 andthe cartomizer 30.

The control unit 20 further includes a sensor unit 61, which is locatedin or adjacent to the air path through the control unit 20 from the airinlet(s) to the air outlet (to the cartomizer 30 through the connector21A). The sensor unit contains a pressure sensor 62 and temperaturesensor 63 (also in or adjacent to this air path). The control unit 20further includes a capacitor 220, a processor 50, a field effecttransistor (FET) switch 210, a battery 54, and input and output devices59, 58.

The operations of the processor 50 and other electronic components, suchas the pressure sensor 62, are generally controlled at least in part bysoftware programs running on the processor 50 (or other components).Such software programs may be stored in non-volatile memory, such asROM, which can be integrated into the processor 50 itself, or providedas a separate component. The processor 50 may access the ROM to load andexecute individual software programs as and when required. The processor50 also contains appropriate communications facilities, e.g. pins orpads (plus corresponding control software), for communicating asappropriate with other devices in the control unit 20, such as thepressure sensor 62.

The output device(s) 58 may provide visible, audio and/or haptic output.For example, the output device(s) may include a speaker 58, a vibrator,and/or one or more lights. The lights are typically provided in the formof one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), which may be the same ordifferent colors (or multi-colored). In the case of multi-colored LEDs,different colors are obtained by switching different colored, e.g. red,green or blue LEDs on, optionally at different relative brightnesses togive corresponding relative variations in color. Where red, green andblue LEDs are provided together, a full range of colors is possible,whilst if only two out of the three red, green and blue LEDs areprovided, only a respective sub-range of colors can be obtained.

The output from the output device 58 may be used to signal to the uservarious conditions or states within the e-cigarette 10, such as a lowbattery warning. Different output signals may be used for signalingdifferent states or conditions. For example, if the output device 58 isan audio speaker, different states or conditions may be represented bytones or beeps of different pitch and/or duration, and/or by providingmultiple such beeps or tones. Alternatively, if the output device 58includes one or more lights, different states or conditions may berepresented by using different colors, pulses of light or continuousillumination, different pulse durations, and so on. For example, oneindicator light might be utilized to show a low battery warning, whileanother indicator light might be used to indicate that the liquidreservoir 58 is nearly depleted. It will be appreciated that a givene-cigarette may include output devices to support multiple differentoutput modes (audio, visual), etc.

The input device(s) 59 may be provided in various forms. For example, aninput device (or devices) 59 may be implemented as buttons on theoutside of the e-cigarette 10—e.g. as mechanical, electrical orcapacitive (touch) sensors. Some devices may support blowing into thee-cigarette 10 as an input mechanism (such blowing may be detected bypressure sensor 62, which would then be also acting as a form of inputdevice 59), and/or connecting/disconnecting the cartomizer 30 andcontrol unit 20 as another form of input mechanism. Again, it will beappreciated that a given e-cigarette may include input devices 59 tosupport multiple different input modes.

As noted above, the e-cigarette 10 provides an air path from the airinlet through the e-cigarette 10, past the pressure sensor 62 and theheater 310 in the cartomizer 30 to the mouthpiece 35. Thus when a userinhales on the mouthpiece 35 of the e-cigarette 10, the processor 50detects such inhalation based on information from the pressure sensor62. In response to such a detection, the CPU supplies power from thebattery 54 to the heater 310, which thereby heats and vaporizes thenicotine from the liquid reservoir 38 for inhalation by the user.

In the particular implementation shown in FIG. 2, a FET 210 is connectedbetween the battery 54 and the connector 21A. This FET 210 acts as aswitch. The processor 50 is connected to the gate of the FET 210 tooperate the switch, thereby allowing the processor 50 to switch on andoff the flow of power from the battery 54 to heater 310 according to thestatus of the detected airflow. It will be appreciated that the heatercurrent can be relatively large, for example, in the range 1-5 amps, andhence the FET 210 should be implemented to support such current control(likewise for any other form of switch that might be used in place ofFET 210).

In order to provide more fine-grained control of the amount of powerflowing from the battery 54 to the heater 310, a pulse-width modulation(PWM) scheme may be adopted. A PWM scheme may be based on a repetitionperiod of say 1 ms. Within each such period, the switch 210 is turned onfor a proportion of the period, and turned off for the remainingproportion of the period. This is parameterized by a duty cycle, wherebya duty cycle of 0 indicates that the switch is off for all of eachperiod (i.e. in effect, permanently off), a duty cycle of 0.33 indicatesthat the switch is on for a third of each period, a duty cycle of 0.66indicates that the switch is on for two-thirds of each period, and aduty cycle of 1 indicates that the FET 210 is on for all of each period(i.e. in effect, permanently on). It will be appreciated that these areonly given as example settings for the duty cycle, and intermediatevalues can be used as appropriate.

The use of PWM provides an effective power to the heater which is givenby the nominal available power (based on the battery output voltage andthe heater resistance) multiplied by the duty cycle. The processor 50may, for example, utilize a duty cycle of 1 (i.e. full power) at thestart of an inhalation to initially raise the heater 310 to its desiredoperating temperature as quickly as possible. Once this desiredoperating temperature has been achieved, the processor 50 may thenreduce the duty cycle to some suitable value in order to supply theheater 310 with the desired operating power.

As shown in FIG. 2, the processor 50 includes a communications interface55 for wireless communications, in particular, support for Bluetooth®Low Energy (BLE) communications.

Optionally the heater 310 may be utilized as an antenna for use by thecommunications interface 55 for transmitting and receiving the wirelesscommunications. One motivation for this is that the control unit 20 mayhave a metal housing 202, whereas the cartomizer portion 30 may have aplastic housing 302 (reflecting the fact that the cartomizer 30 isdisposable, whereas the control unit 20 is retained and therefore maybenefit from being more durable). The metal housing 202 acts as a screenor barrier which can affect the operation of an antenna located withinthe control unit 20 itself. However, utilizing the heater 310 as theantenna for the wireless communications can help to avoid this metalscreening because of the plastic housing 302 of the cartomizer 30, butwithout adding additional components or complexity (or cost) to thecartomizer 30. Alternatively a separate antenna may be provided (notshown), or a portion of the metal housing 202 may be used.

If the heater 310 is used as an antenna then as shown in FIG. 2, theprocessor 50, more particularly the communications interface 55, may becoupled to the power line from the battery 54 to the heater 310 (viaconnector 31B) by a capacitor 220. This capacitive coupling occursdownstream of the switch 210, since the wireless communications mayoperate when the heater 310 is not powered for heating (as discussed inmore detail below). It will be appreciated that capacitor 220 helpsprevent the power supply from the battery 54 to the heater 310 beingdiverted back to the processor 50.

Note that the capacitive coupling may be implemented using a morecomplex LC (inductor-capacitor) network, which can also provideimpedance matching with the output of the communications interface 55.(As known to the person skilled in the art, this impedance matching canhelp support proper transfer of signals between the communicationsinterface 55 and the heater 310 acting as the antenna, rather thanhaving such signals reflected back along the connection.)

In some implementations, the processor 50 and communications interfaceare implemented using a Dialog DA14580 chip from Dialog SemiconductorPLC, based in Reading, United Kingdom. Further information (and a datasheet) for this chip is available at www.dialog-semiconductor.com.

FIG. 3 presents a high-level and simplified overview of this chip 50,including the communications interface 55 for supporting Bluetooth® LowEnergy. This interface includes in particular a radio transceiver 520for performing signal modulation and demodulation, etc., link layerhardware 512, and an advanced encryption facility (128 bits) 511. Theoutput from the radio transceiver 520 is connected to the antenna (forexample, to the heater 310 acting as the antenna via capacitive coupling220 and connectors 21A and 31B).

The remainder of processor 50 includes a general processing core 530,RAM 531, ROM 532, a one-time programming (OTP) unit 533, a generalpurpose I/O system 560 (for communicating with other components on thePCB 28), a power management unit 540 and a bridge 570 for connecting twobuses. Software instructions stored in the ROM 532 and/or OTP unit 533may be loaded into RAM 531 (and/or into memory provided as part of core530) for execution by one or more processing units within core 530.These software instructions cause the processor 50 to implement variousfunctionality described herein, such as interfacing with the sensor unit61 and controlling the heater 310 accordingly. Note that although thedevice shown in FIG. 3 acts as both a communications interface 55 andalso as a general controller for the electronic vapor provision system10, in other embodiments these two functions may be split between two ormore different devices (chips)—e.g. one chip may serve as thecommunications interface 55, and another chip as the general controllerfor the electronic vapor provision system 10.

In some implementations, the processor 50 may be configured to preventwireless communications when the heater 310 is being used for vaporizingliquid from reservoir 38. For example, wireless communications may besuspended, terminated or prevented from starting when switch 210 isswitched on. Conversely, if wireless communications are ongoing, thenactivation of the heater 310 may be prevented—e.g. by disregarding adetection of airflow from the sensor unit 61, and/or by not operatingswitch 210 to turn on power to the heater 310 while the wirelesscommunications are progressing.

One reason for preventing the simultaneous operation of heater 310 forboth heating and wireless communications in some implementations is tohelp avoid potential interference from the PWM control of the heater310. This PWM control has its own frequency (based on the repetitionfrequency of the pulses), albeit typically much lower than the frequencyused for the wireless communications, and the two could potentiallyinterfere with one another. In some situations, such interference maynot, in practice, cause any problems, and simultaneous operation ofheater 310 for both heating and wireless communications may be allowed(if so desired). This may be facilitated, for example, by techniquessuch as the appropriate selection of signal strengths and/or PWMfrequency, the provision of suitable filtering, etc.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing Bluetooth® Low Energycommunications between an e-cigarette 10 and an application (app)running on a smartphone 400 or other suitable mobile communicationdevice (tablet, laptop, smartwatch, etc.). Such communications can beused for a wide range of purposes, for example, to upgrade firmware onthe e-cigarette 10, to retrieve usage and/or diagnostic data from thee-cigarette 10, to reset or unlock the e-cigarette 10, to controlsettings on the e-cigarette 10, etc.

In general terms, when the e-cigarette 10 is switched on, such as byusing input device 59, or possibly by joining the cartomizer 30 to thecontrol unit 20, it starts to advertise for Bluetooth® Low Energycommunication. If this outgoing communication is received by smartphone400, then the smartphone 400 requests a connection to the e-cigarette10. The e-cigarette 10 may notify this request to a user via outputdevice 58, and wait for the user to accept or reject the request viainput device 59. Assuming the request is accepted, the e-cigarette 10 isable to communicate further with the smartphone 400. Note that thee-cigarette 10 may remember the identity of smartphone 400 and be ableto accept future connection requests automatically from that smartphone400. Once the connection has been established, the smartphone 400 andthe e-cigarette 10 operate in a client-server mode, with the smartphone400 operating as a client that initiates and sends requests to thee-cigarette 10 which therefore operates as a server (and responds to therequests as appropriate).

A Bluetooth® Low Energy link (also known as Bluetooth Smart®) implementsthe IEEE 802.15.1 standard, and operates at a frequency of 2.4-2.5 GHz,corresponding to a wavelength of about 12 cm, with data rates of up to 1Mbit/s. The set-up time for a connection is less than 6 ms, and theaverage power consumption can be very low—of the order 1 mW or less. ABluetooth® Low Energy link may extend up to some 50 m. However, for thesituation shown in FIG. 4, the e-cigarette 10 and the smartphone 400will typically belong to the same person, and will therefore be in muchcloser proximity to one another—e.g. 1 m. Further information aboutBluetooth® Low Energy can be found at www.bluetooth.com.

It will be appreciated that e-cigarette 10 may support othercommunications protocols for communication with smartphone 400 (or anyother appropriate device). Such other communications protocols may beinstead of, or in addition to, Bluetooth® Low Energy. Examples of suchother communications protocols include Bluetooth® (not the low energyvariant), see for example, www.bluetooth.com, near field communications(NFC), as per ISO 13157, and WiFi®. NFC communications operate at muchlower wavelengths than Bluetooth® (13.56 MHz) and generally have a muchshorter range—say <0.2 m. However, this short range is still compatiblewith most usage scenarios such as shown in FIG. 4. Meanwhile, low-powerWiFi® communications, such as IEEE802.11ah, IEEE802.11v, or similar, maybe employed between the e-cigarette 10 and a remote device. In eachcase, a suitable communications chipset may be included on PCB 28,either as part of the processor 50 or as a separate component. Theskilled person will be aware of other wireless communication protocolsthat may be employed in e-cigarette 10.

FIG. 5 is a schematic, exploded view of an example cartomizer 30 inaccordance with some embodiments. The cartomizer 30 has an outer plastichousing 302, a mouthpiece 35 (which may be formed as part of thehousing), a vaporizer 620, a hollow inner tube 612, and a connector 31Bfor attaching to a control unit. An airflow path through the cartomizer30 starts with an air inlet through connector 31B, then through theinterior of vaporizer 625 and hollow tube 612, and finally out throughthe mouthpiece 35. The cartomizer 30 retains liquid in an annular regionbetween (i) the plastic housing 302, and (ii) the vaporizer 620 and theinner tube 612. The connector 31B is provided with a seal 635 to helpmaintain liquid in this region and to prevent leakage.

FIG. 6 is a schematic, exploded view of the vaporizer 620 from theexample cartomizer 30 shown in FIG. 5. The vaporizer 620 has asubstantially cylindrical housing (cradle) formed from two components,627A, 627B, each having a substantially semi-circular cross-section.When assembled, the edges of the components 627A, 627B do not completelyabut one another (at least, not along their entire length), but rather aslight gap 625 remains (as indicated in FIG. 5). This gap allows liquidfrom the outer reservoir around the vaporizer 620 and tube 612 to enterinto the interior of the vaporizer 620.

One of the components 627B of the vaporizer is shown in FIG. 6supporting a heater 310. There are two connectors 631A, 631B shown forsupplying power (and a wireless communication signal) to the heater 310.More particular, these connectors 631A, 631B link the heater 310 toconnector 31B, and from there to the control unit 20. (Note thatconnector 631A is joined to pad 632A at the far end of vaporizer 620from connector 31B by an electrical connection that passes under theheater 310 and which is not visible in FIG. 6.)

The heater 310 comprises a heating element formed from a sintered metalfiber material and is generally in the form of a sheet or porous,conducting material (such as steel). However, it will be appreciatedthat other porous conducting materials may be used. The overallresistance of the heating element in the example of FIG. 6 is around 1ohm. However, it will be appreciated that other resistances may beselected, for example having regard to the available battery voltage andthe desired temperature/power dissipation characteristics of the heatingelement. In this regard, the relevant characteristics may be selected inaccordance with the desired aerosol (vapor) generation properties forthe device depending on the source liquid of interest.

The main portion of the heating element is generally rectangular with alength (i.e. in a direction running between the connector 31B and thecontact 632A) of around 20 mm and a width of around 8 mm. The thicknessof the sheet comprising the heating element in this example is around0.15 mm.

As can be seen in FIG. 6, the generally-rectangular main portion of theheating element has slots 311 extending inwardly from each of the longersides. These slots 311 engage pegs 312 provided by vaporizer housingcomponent 627B, thereby helping to maintain the position of the heatingelement in relation to the housing components 627A, 627B.

The slots 311 extend inwardly by around 4.8 mm and have a width ofaround 0.6 mm. The slots 311 extending inwardly are separated from oneanother by around 5.4 mm on each side of the heating element, with theslots 311 extending inwardly from the opposing sides being offset fromone another by around half this spacing. A consequence of thisarrangement of slots 311 is that current flow along the heating elementis in effect forced to follow a meandering path, which results in aconcentration of current and electrical power around the ends of theslots 311. The different current/power densities at different locationson the heating element mean there are areas of relatively high currentdensity that become hotter than areas of relatively low current density.This in effect provides the heating element with a range of differenttemperatures and temperature gradients, which can be desirable in thecontext of aerosol provision systems. This is because differentcomponents of a source liquid may aerosolize/vaporize at differenttemperatures, and so providing a heating element with a range oftemperatures can help simultaneously aerosolize a range of differentcomponents in the source liquid.

The heater 310 shown in FIG. 6, having a substantially planar shapewhich is elongated in one direction, is well-suited to act as anantenna. In conjunction with the metal housing 202 of the control unit20, the heater 310 forms an approximate dipole configuration, whichtypically has a physical size of the same order of magnitude as thewavelength of Bluetooth® Low Energy communications—i.e. a size ofseveral centimeters (allowing for both the heater 310 and the metalhousing 202) against a wavelength of around 12 cm.

Although FIG. 6 illustrates one shape and configuration of the heater310 (heating element), the skilled person will be aware of various otherpossibilities. For example, the heater 310 may be provided as a coil orsome other configuration of resistive wire. Another possibility is thatthe heater 310 is configured as a pipe containing liquid to be vaporized(such as some form of tobacco product). In this case, the pipe may beused primarily to transport heat from a place of generation (e.g. by acoil or other heating element) to the liquid to be vaporized. In such acase, the pipe still acts as a heater in respect of the liquid to beheated. Such configurations can again optionally be used as an antennato support wireless configurations.

As was noted previously herein, a suitable e-cigarette 10 cancommunicate with a mobile communication device 400, for example byparing the devices using the Bluetooth® low energy protocol.

Consequently, it is possible to provide additional functionality to thee-cigarette 10 and/or to a system comprising the e-cigarette 100 and thesmartphone 400, by providing suitable software instructions (for examplein the form of an app) to run on the smartphone 400.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a typical smartphone 400 comprises a centralprocessing unit (CPU) (410). The CPU 410 may communicate with componentsof the smartphone 400 either through direct connections or via an I/Obridge 414 and/or a bus 430 as applicable.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, the CPU 410 communicates directly with amemory 412, which may comprise a persistent memory such as for exampleFlash® memory for storing an operating system and applications (apps),and volatile memory such as RAM for holding data currently in use by theCPU 410. Typically persistent and volatile memories are formed byphysically distinct units (not shown). In addition, the memory mayseparately comprise plug-in memory such as a microSD card, and alsosubscriber information data on a subscriber information module (SIM)(not shown).

The smartphone 400 may also comprise a graphics processing unit (GPU)416. The GPU 416 may communicate directly with the CPU 410 or via theI/O bridge, or may be part of the CPU 410. The GPU 416 may share RAMwith the CPU 410 or may have its own dedicated RAM (not shown) and isconnected to the display 418 of the smartphone 400. The display istypically a liquid crystal (LCD) or organic light-emitting diode (OLED)display, but may be any suitable display technology, such as e-ink.Optionally the GPU 416 may also be used to drive one or moreloudspeakers 420 of the smartphone 400.

Alternatively, the speaker 420 may be connected to the CPU 410 via theI/O bridge and the bus. Other components of the smartphone 400 may besimilarly connected via the bus, including a touch surface 432 such as acapacitive touch surface overlaid on the screen for the purposes ofproviding a touch input to the device, a microphone 434 for receivingspeech from the user, one or more cameras 436 for capturing images, aglobal positioning system (GPS) unit 438 for obtaining an estimate ofthe smartphone's 400 geographical position, and wireless communicationmeans 440.

The wireless communication means 440 may in turn comprise severalseparate wireless communication systems adhering to different standardsand/or protocols, such as Bluetooth® (standard or low-energy variants),near field communication and Wi-Fi® as described previously, and alsophone based communication such as 2G, 3G and/or 4G.

The systems are typically powered by a battery (not shown) that may bechargeable via a power input (not shown) that in turn may be part of adata link such as USB (not shown).

It will be appreciated that different smartphones may include differentfeatures (for example a compass or a buzzer) and may omit some of thoselisted above (for example a touch surface).

Thus more generally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure asuitable remote device such as smartphone 400 will comprise a CPU and amemory for storing and running an app, and wireless communication meansoperable to instigate and maintain wireless communication with thee-cigarette 10. It will be appreciated however that the remote devicemay be a device that has these capabilities, such as a tablet, laptop,smart TV or the like.

One example of additional functionality that may be provided to thee-cigarette 10 and/or to a system comprising the e-cigarette 10 and themobile communication device 400 is a geographically-based pushnotification of relevant consumer information.

Referring now to FIG. 8, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, asystem comprises an electronic cigarette 10 and a mobile communicationdevice 400 such as a phone or smartphone.

Referring back to FIG. 7, the mobile communication device 400 comprisesa wireless receiver means 440 for receiving mobile (2G, 3G, 4G etc.)signals from a base station 1100.

Notably, when a mobile communication device 400 enters a new country itreceives standardized mobile network data from a local base station 1100as part of the handover or connection process for joining the newnetwork.

This standardized network data typically comprises a mobile country code(MCC) and a mobile network code (MNC), which are internationally agreedcodes for countries and network operators.

For example in the ITU-T E.212 standard, the MCC is a unique 3 digitcode for each country, whilst the MNC is a 2 or 3 digit code for amobile network operator. The combination of the two provides a uniqueindication of the country and operator of the network.

The mobile communication device 400 itself also comprises the MCC andMNC of its home country and network, together with a uniqueInternational Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). The MCC, MNC and IMSIof the mobile communication device 400 are typically communicated to thenew network, allowing the mobile communication device 400 to be uniquelyidentified by the new network and for the new network to inform themobile communication device's home network of its roaming status and toset up appropriate back-end routing.

Given such standardized behavior, it is possible for an app or theoperating system of the mobile communication device to extract thecountry code of the network to which the mobile communication device 400is linked, for additional purposes.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, one such purpose is toobtain vaping policy alert data responsive to the extracted countrycode, and to present this to the user of the mobile communicationdevice, for example by display on the screen 418 of the device.

This vaping policy alert data may, for example, provide the user with asummary of any relevant regulatory restrictions in relation to vapingwithin that country (for example, a minimum age for using an electronicvapor provision system, or restrictions relating to indoor/outdoorvaping), and/or any social expectations (for example indicating whetherit is generally considered socially appropriate to vape in restaurants)in relation to vaping. Whilst for convenience the data is referred to as“policy” data, it will be appreciated that it is not restricted tolegal/regulatory requirements or conditions of use for vaping but mayinclude any relevant useful information, such as notification of localmains power current and voltage that may be relevant to the chargersupplied with the electronic vapor provision system or an indication ofwhat kinds of retail outlets can be expected to supply vaping materials(e.g. e-liquid refills/cartomizers) or what range of e-liquid/cartomizerflavors might be available in that country for a given brand. In thatsense a vaping policy alert may also be referred to as informationrelating to vaping/information relating to the use of electronic vaporprovision systems. Other relevant vaping policy alert data will beapparent to the skilled person. It will also be appreciated that “vapingpolicy alert data” may comprise or be accompanied by smoking policyalert data for similar purposes.

Optionally such policy data may only be obtained by the mobilecommunication device 400 when the extracted country code differs fromthe home country code of the mobile communication device 400, so thatthe mobile communication device 400 does not retrieve vaping policyinformation for the user's home country whenever it connects to anetwork in the user's home country.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an app on the mobilecommunication device 400 stores a plurality of vaping policy alert dataitems in association with respective country codes in a memory 412 ofthe mobile communication device 400. This vaping policy alert data canbe kept up-to-date by the app's publisher using app updates in aconventional manner, for example through an annual, quarterly or monthlyupdate cycle.

Consequently the mobile communication device 400 obtains vaping policyalert data by retrieving from memory the relevant vaping policy alertdata associated with the extracted country code of the network that themobile communication device 400 is in communication with.

This approach has several potential advantages; firstly, using themobile network country code means that the current country can bedetected by mobile phones that are not equipped with global positioningsystem (GPS) receivers. Secondly, detection is quick, allowing the userto be rapidly informed of local expectations at their point of entry toa new country. Thirdly, detection is not reliant on a data link to aremote server (as may be the case to resolve GPS co-ordinates, or obtainremotely held policy data); some phones do not have mobile datacapabilities, whilst many users disable roaming mobile data connectionsdue to cost; meanwhile immediate access to WiFi® is also not guaranteed.

However, alternatively or in addition, where mobile data or WiFi® are orbecome available for use by the mobile communication device 400, thenoptionally identification of the country and/or vaping policy alert datamay be obtained from a vaping policy server 1300.

Hence referring again to FIG. 8, in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a system comprises an electronic cigarette 10, a mobilecommunication device 400 such as a phone or smartphone, and a vapingpolicy server 1300.

In this embodiment, the mobile communication device obtains orsupplements vaping policy alert data from the vaping policy server 1300.In a first instance, this is obtained by transmitting to the vapingpolicy server 1300 the country code extracted by the mobilecommunication device 400. The vaping policy server 1300 then looks upand retrieves vaping policy alert data corresponding to the extractedcountry code from a database in a similar manner to that describedabove, and then transmits the vaping policy alert data back to themobile communication device 400. The communication between the mobilecommunication device 400 and the server 1300 may be via a base station1100 using mobile data to connect to the internet 1200 and thereon tothe server 1300, or may be via a Wi-Fi® access point (not shown) toconnect directly to the internet 1200 and thereon to the server 1300.

This enables the app publisher to provide more frequently updated vapingpolicy information and/or optionally also to supplement vaping policyinformation stored on the mobile indications device 400 with less timecritical vaping policy information, such as notifications of specialoffers relating to consumables of the electronic vapor provision system,or notices about vaping policies at special events occurring in the nextfew days which the user may have travelled to attend.

It will be appreciated that typically a server has more computationaland memory resources than the mobile communication device 400, and somay usefully supply more computationally intensive services than thosethat are generally practical for the mobile communication device 400.

Hence in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a GPS enabled mobilephone, receiving GPS signals from a sufficient number of satellites 1000to provide a reliable set of GPS coordinates, may transmit these GPScoordinates together with or instead of the extracted country code tothe server 1300. The server 1300 may then refer to map data to detectexactly where the mobile communication device 400 is, and hence corrector confirm the country for which vaping policy alert data is required.

The server 1300 may return a country code responsive to the GPSco-ordinates for use in looking up locally held policy data on themobile communication device 400, and/or it may return respective vapingpolicy data corresponding to such a country code, thereby providing thedata for a version of the mobile communication device application doesnot comprise locally held data, or supplementing such locally held data.

It will be appreciated that whilst a mobile communication device 400 canstore map data of sufficient accuracy to resolve when a user has crosseda country border, this is likely to consume a large amount of the mobilecommunication device's storage and so may be impractical to install onsome devices. Furthermore, comparing GPS signals to a large amount ofmap data may utilize an appreciable proportion of the mobilecommunication device's computational resource and reduce battery life.Hence whilst in principle this may be performed locally on the mobilecommunication device 400, outsourcing this process to a vaping policyserver may be considered beneficial.

The use of GPS to determine or confirm the country in which the mobilecommunication device 400 is found can address the problem of “falseroaming,” which occurs near country borders where the mobile phoneconnects to a mobile network over the border. This may result in amobile communication device 400 unnecessarily providing vaping policyalerts for a neighboring country if the user is near a border in theirhome country, or the mobile communication device 400 failing to updatein a timely manner at a border crossing while it retains connection witha sufficiently strong signal from a previous network in a previouscountry.

In a similar fashion, in an embodiment of the present disclosure aWi-Fi® enabled mobile communication device 400, receiving an IP addressfrom a wireless Internet connection, may transmit this IP addresstogether with or instead of the extracted country code to the vapingpolicy server. The server may then resolve the IP address to determinewith good accuracy where the mobile communication device 400 is, andhence correct or confirm the country for which vaping policy alert datais required. The server 1300 may then send the country code and/or thecorresponding vaping policy alert data back to the mobile communicationdevice 400, in a similar manner and to similar effect as that describedabove in relation to GPS.

As noted previously herein, the mobile communication device 400 maycommunicate with the e-cigarette 10. Consequently the mobilecommunication device 400 may send one or more commands to thee-cigarette 10 in response to the detection of a change in country codefrom mobile network data or in response to a country code received froma vaping policy server.

The mobile communication device 400 may send a command to thee-cigarette 10 to enter a warning mode, for example by flashing an LEDof the e-cigarette 10. The warning mode indicates to the user that theyshould consult the app for further information, at which point they canreview the vaping policy. Optionally the user can then tap an“acknowledge” input button provided by the app (for example via a 418touchscreen of the mobile communication device 400), after which themobile communication device 400 can send a follow-up command to thee-cigarette 10 to exit the warning mode. Alternatively or in addition,the mobile communication device 400 may initially send a command to thee-cigarette 10 to prevent vaping, and only unlock this once the user hastapped an “acknowledge” button.

Furthermore, the vaping policy data stored by the app in the memory ofthe mobile communication device 400 or stored at the vaping policyserver 1300 may comprise machine-readable vaping policy data. Thismachine-readable vaping policy data take the form of a predeterminedlist of parameters. Purely by way of non-limiting examples theseparameters may comprise some or all of a minimum legal age for vaping,respective flags indicating whether or not it is acceptable to use ane-cigarette in respective locations, such as public spaces, publicbuildings, hotels, airports, private buildings and the like, maximumdosage regimes within specified periods (per inhalation, per hour, perday etc.), if these have been set, and the like. More generally, it willbe appreciated the nature of what the data specifically represents isnot in itself significant to the principles described herein forproviding users of an e-cigarette with geographically-specificinformation relating to the use of e-cigarettes.

Optionally the mobile communication device 400 can parse thismachine-readable vaping policy data and provide warnings and/or controlthe e-cigarette 10 accordingly.

For example, the mobile communication device 400 may requestconfirmation of the user's age or compare it to a preregistered age, andact to allow or prevent use of the e-cigarette 10 accordingly. Similarlythe mobile communication device 400 can command the e-cigarette 10 tocontrol its heater 310 so as to adjust the amount of vapor generated perinhalation where this is appropriate. Other controls and warnings willbe apparent to the skilled person.

Optionally in any control of the e-cigarette 10 by the smartphone may beoverridden by an appropriate selection of a control on the e-cigarette10 itself.

Hence referring now to FIG. 10, in a summary embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a method of providing a vaping policy alert by a mobilecommunications device, comprises:

At s101 receiving, at the mobile communications device, mobile networkdata from a base station;

At s102 obtaining a country code for the location of the mobilecommunications device;

At s103 obtaining vaping policy alert data responsive to the extractedcountry code; and

At s104 displaying the vaping policy alert data.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that variations inthe above method corresponding to operation of the various embodimentsof the apparatus as described and claimed herein are considered withinthe scope of the present disclosure, including but not limited to:

-   -   extracting a country code from the received mobile network data;    -   retrieving vaping policy alert data stored in association with        the extracted country code in a memory of the mobile        communication device;    -   transmitting the extracted country code to a vaping policy        server, and receiving vaping policy alert data from the vaping        policy server responsive to the extracted country code;    -   receiving an IP address from a wireless internet connection,        -   transmitting the IP address to a vaping policy server, and        -   receiving from the vaping policy server, responsive to the            IP address, one or more selected from the list consisting            of:    -   i. a country code, and    -   ii. respective vaping policy alert data corresponding to a        country code;    -   obtaining geographical coordinates from a GPS system,        -   transmitting the geographical coordinates to a vaping policy            server, and        -   receiving from the vaping policy server, responsive to the            geographical coordinates, one or more selected from the list            consisting of:    -   i. a country code, and    -   ii. respective vaping policy alert data corresponding to a        country code;    -   transmitting a control command from a mobile communications        device to an electronic vapor provision system to prevent        vaping, responsive to the detection of a change in country code;    -   transmitting a control command from a mobile communications        device to an electronic vapor provision system, responsive to an        acknowledgement input to the mobile communications device from a        user; and    -   if the vaping policy alert data comprises machine-readable        policy data, transmitting a control command from a mobile        communications device to an electronic vapor provision system,        responsive to the machine-readable policy data.

It will be appreciated that in an embodiment of the present disclosure amobile communications device (400) suitable to implement respectiveparts of the above techniques comprises a wireless communicationreceiver operable (440) to receive mobile network data from a basestation (1100), and a processor (410) operable to extract a country codefrom the received mobile network data, and the mobile communicationdevice 400 is adapted to obtain vaping policy alert data responsive tothe extracted country code, and to display the vaping policy alert dataon a display 418 of mobile communication device 400.

Further features of the mobile communication device 400 relate tofurther aspects of the above techniques. Hence optionally GPS receiver438 is used to obtain GPS co-ordinates, and/or wireless means 440 (inconjunction with processor 410) is used to detect WiFi® IP addresses.Meanwhile memory 412 (for example a non-volatile flash memory componentthereof) may store a database of country codes and vaping policy alerts.

Similarly, and referring now to FIG. 9, it will be appreciated that inan embodiment of the present disclosure a vaping policy alert server(1300) suitable to implement respective parts of the above techniquescomprises a receiver (1310), adapted to receive from a mobilecommunication device 400 an indication of the country in which themobile communication device 400 is located; a memory 1330, adapted tostore respective vaping policies (1335) for a plurality of countries; aprocessor (1320), adapted to retrieve a vaping policy from the memoryresponsive to the indication of country received from the mobilecommunication device 400; and a transmitter (1310), adapted to transmitthe retrieved vaping policy to the mobile communication device 400.

The embodiments described herein above provide a mobile communicationdevice and an associated e-cigarette with the beneficial functionalityof obtaining information about requirements and/or norms of vaping at acountry-wide scale; however, it would be desirable if information aboutvaping activities could be provided at a more human scale.

Accordingly, another example of additional functionality that may beprovided to the e-cigarette 10 and/or to a system comprising thee-cigarette 10 and the mobile communication device 400, is a vapingprevalence heat-map for a selected location (e.g. the user's currentlocation, or a location the user anticipates visiting).

Referring again to FIG. 8, in an embodiment of the present disclosure asystem with this functionality comprises an electronic cigarette 10, amobile communication device 400 such as a phone or smartphone, and avaping map server 1300. It will be appreciated that the vaping mapserver may be the same as, or separate to, the vaping policy server 1300described previously herein. Where the server is the same, it mayutilize data such as GPS-based map data for the selection of vapingpolicy data and vaping heat map data.

Similarly, an app running on the mobile communication device 400 mayincorporate the relevant functions of the vaping policy alert systemdescribed above and those of the vaping heat-map system described below,or these apps may be separate and a user may opt to install either one,both, or none as they wish, to obtain their desired level offunctionality.

It will be appreciated that a “vaping heat map” is an equivalent termfor a map of vaping action events, and the “heat” refers to the relativeor absolute number of vaping action events in regions of the map.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the e-cigarette 10 and themobile communication device 400 have a paired connection (for exampleusing Bluetooth® low energy).

When the e-cigarette's user inhales on it (or “vapes”), then asdescribed previously herein a pressure sensor 62 in the control unit 20detects this and the processor 50 in the control unit 20 causes theheater 310 to vaporize some of the e-liquid.

In this embodiment however the communications interface 55 also sends asignal via the paired connection to the mobile communication device,notifying it that a vaping action has taken place.

In response, the mobile communication device 400 (or typically, an apprunning on the mobile communication device) may log the current set ofGPS coordinates received by the GPS receiver 438, thereby registeringwhere the vaping action took place.

As will be described below, over the course of a predetermined periodthe mobile communication device/app may log a plurality of such vapingactions and the corresponding location, thereby building up a history ofwhere (and optionally when, by also logging the time) the user vaped.

If the mobile communication device 400 regularly suspends GPS receptionto save battery power, the mobile communication device/app can awakenthe GPS receiver and obtain coordinates in response to notification fromthe e-cigarette 10 that a vaping action has taken place. In mostcircumstances, the few seconds delay between the notification andcalculation of the GPS coordinates were not amount to a significantchange in position for the user. Optionally successive GPS coordinatescan be obtained within a sample period (e.g. at 1 second intervals) todetermine whether and to what extent the user is moving, and correct forthis. If the change in GPS coordinates indicates that the user istravelling at sufficient speed to be in a vehicle, optionally thatvaping action may not be logged as it is unlikely to be indicative of apublic location.

Similarly, to save battery power, once a first set of GPS coordinateshave been obtained the GPS receiver may be halted until the mobilecommunication device 400 detects evidence that the user has moved by asignificant amount, such as a change in signal strength detected inlocal Wi-Fi signals or mobile network signals that the mobilecommunication device 400 is already monitoring. During such a stationaryperiod, successive vaping events may be logged at the same set of GPSco-ordinates as the first.

In any event, the log of GPS coordinates (and optionally times)corresponding to the user's vaping actions may be transmitted (uploaded)by the mobile communication device 400 after a predetermined period oftime to the heat map server 1300. The predetermined period may forexample be per vaping action, or hourly, or after a preset number ofhours (e.g. 4, 8 or 12), or daily. The predetermined period may be amatter of design choice, taking account of factors such as battery lifeand uplink availability. The upload may start when a communication linkcan be established with the server after the predetermined period haselapsed and may occur via Wi-Fi signal or mobile data isavailable/appropriate.

The uploading process may optionally use any suitable knownauthentication scheme for the app, the mobile communication device 400,or (via the established paired link) the e-cigarette 10 to establishthat the upload data will be genuine.

Subsequently however the data may be anonymized, either at the mobilecommunication device 400 (sending just a log of GPS coordinates andoptionally times via the authenticated link to the server) or at theserver 1300 (stripping out any data identifying the app, mobilecommunication device 400 or e-cigarette 10 to retain just the log of GPScoordinates and optionally times).

Referring to FIG. 9, a vaping heat map server (1300) suitable toimplement respective parts of the above techniques comprises a receiver(1310), adapted to receive from a mobile communication device datacomprising a log of GPS coordinates and optionally corresponding times;a memory 1330, adapted to store data corresponding to a vaping heat mapas described later herein; a processor (1320), adapted to populate thevaping heat map and retrieve heat map data in response to a query; and atransmitter (1310), adapted to transmit the retrieved heat map data themobile communication device 400.

At the server 1300, the log of GPS coordinates and optionallycorresponding times is parsed to form or contribute to one or moreso-called heat maps, which, for example, can be used to graphicallyillustrate the absolute or relative number or frequency of vapingactions, for example by color coding areas of a geographical mapresponsive to how many times uploaded GPS coordinates fall into eacharea. Hence a heat map can be thought of as a histogram of how often GPScoordinates correspond to areas of the heat map.

The server 1300 is operable to receive such logs from a potentiallylarge number of users' mobile communication devices 400, resulting in alarge and well-populated dataset.

It will be appreciated that GPS coordinates can be very precise (forexample to within 1 meter or 10 meters of the user's true position,depending on the nature of the GPS receiver in the respective mobilecommunication device). Consequently taken over the whole of a country orthe whole of the world, the number of potential GPS coordinates is huge.If histogram counts were accumulated for each possible GPS position,this would likely result in a very large database with attendantcomputational and memory overheads. Secondly it could make the histogram(the count of how many times each area of the map is logged) very sparseif the area always corresponds to 1 square meter or 10 square meters,for example. In these circumstances, the usefulness of the map may onlybe limited to areas of very high vaping activity.

Consequently in an embodiment of the present disclosure the server 1300is adapted to generate and store a heat map with variable granularity indifferent geographical map regions, so that for example in thecountryside the map may count GPS logs at a resolution of 1 squarekilometer or larger, whereas in a city center the map may count GPS logsat a much higher resolution (e.g. 5 square meters or smaller).

The server 1300 can adaptively modify the heat map granularity as GPSlogs are received; an arbitrary geographical region may start with (as anon-limiting example) a 1 square kilometer area within which GPS logsare counted, and the logs may be temporarily stored in association withthis area. When the number of logs associated with the area reaches apredetermined threshold count (as non-limiting example, a thresholdvalue selected within the range 10-100), the server processor 1320divides the area into 2 or more sub-areas. If the GPS logs have beenstored, then they can be reused to create counts for the respectivesubareas, and counting can continue to be updated on the basis of thenew sub-areas as new logs are received. Meanwhile if the GPS logs havenot been stored then new counts can be updated as new logs are received.In this way geographical areas that see high levels of vaping areautomatically subdivided, with each area representing up to thethreshold number of vaping actions. In areas showing very heavy vapingaction (which may for example correspond to designated vaping areas in acity centre), then the smallest subdivision/maximum resolution of themap may be achieved.

Alternatively or in addition the map may be predefined or seeded withdifferent size areas that anticipate expected levels of vaping activity(for example, having smaller areas in towns and cities) so that the heatmap becomes useful more quickly for early adopters of the mobilecommunication device app while it is being populated with sufficientdata to provide good information coverage.

As noted above, the GPS coordinates may be associated with timestamps.This allows more than one heat map to be generated, for example tocreate heat maps reflecting usage on an hourly basis.

Subsequently when a mobile communication device 400 requests a heat map(as will be described later herein), the server 1300 may provide a heatmap corresponding to the current time. This may provide the user withbetter information about local habits and popular spots for vaping atdifferent times of the day.

As with the geographical subdivision of the heat map, the server 1300may provide a temporal subdivision depending on the amount of datareceived; hence for each area initially the data may be provided for a24-hour basis; subsequently as number of counts increases this may bedivided into separate maps for AM and PM; subsequently again as numberof counts increases may be divided into a map for before, during, andafter typical office hours. Eventually the data may allow for hourlymaps, particularly for peak times.

It will be appreciated that temporal division may be employed on aregion or sub-region basis, so that those regions that see a lot ofvaping activity can provide heat map data for the corresponding time,whilst other regions provide standard (e.g. daily) heat map data,optionally normalized to account for the shorter time frame of other mapregions in a set of results.

Where the achieved temporal resolution permits, other divisions becomepossible, such as day and night maps which approximately track localsunset times where for example cultural or religious observances maycause behavioral changes at these times on each day or on certain days.

Hence also alternatively or in addition the server 1300 may generateheat maps for weekdays and weekends, in order to reflect local changesin behavior.

In addition to a heat map, the server 1300 may send data indicative ofthe spatial and/or temporal resolution of the transmitted map so thatusers know the extent to which it can be relied upon for such purposes.

To reflect changes in behavior over time, optionally individual logsand/or counts per day/week/month/year may have a date associated withthem, and may be deleted after a predetermined period of time. Thus moregenerally the vaping heat map may be based on a moving window of timepreceding the present, such as (by way of non-limiting example) the lastsix months, or two years. For map regions that have fewer logs, thewindow may be made longer than a default period, whilst for map regionsthat have many logs, the window may be made shorter than a defaultperiod.

Having generated a heat map, the server 1300 may then provide heat mapdata to a mobile communication device 400. Hence in an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the vaping heat map server 1300 receives a requestfor a vapor heat map from the mobile communication device 400, therequest comprising data indicating a location of interest such as a setof GPS coordinates (for example where the location of interest is theuser's current location), or a specified location such a place name orcoordinates selected from a map on a graphical user interface of themobile communication device 400.

The server 1300 may use the GPS coordinates, or look up coordinatescorresponding to a place name, to identify a map position within thevapor heat map, and to identify one or more map regions within apredetermined distance of the map position. The predetermined distancemay differ by longitude and latitude, resulting in a rectangular regionrather than a square region, and optionally may be responsive toparameters transmitted by the mobile communication device 400 indicativeof the shape and desired scale of the map to be displayed by the mobilecommunication device 400.

The server processor 1320 then retrieves the count data corresponding tothe or each identified map region within the predetermined distance,optionally for the current time or a time specified in the request fromthe mobile communication device 400.

The server 1300 may then transmit data indicative of the or each countto the remote device.

The transmitted data may simply be the or each count, or may beaccompanied by data indicating the extent of the or each map regionwithin the predetermined distance to assist the mobile communicationdevice with spatially arranging a representation of the counts on adisplay. Optionally the transmitted data may comprise count data thathas been pre-processed for ease of use by the mobile communicationdevice 400; for example it may take the form of a graphical image withcolors corresponding to count values. In this case, the graphical imagecan be used as a color overlay on top of a geographical map image eitherstored on or obtained by the mobile communication device 400.Alternatively such a graphical image may be a processed geographical mapimage incorporating colors indicative of the count values.

More generally, the transmitted data will be that which is sufficient toallow the mobile communication device 400 to display a map of a regionsurrounding the location of interest that intuitively indicates to theuser where vaping is relatively or absolutely common and/or uncommon,based upon how much map information the mobile communication device 400may comprise or have access to, which may be predetermined.

The server 1300 and/or the mobile communication device 400 may do morethan simply illustrate historical vaping behavior within a requestedregion of interest.

For example, either the server 1300 or the mobile communication device400 may detect whether a count within a map region corresponding to alocation of interest (typically the current GPS coordinates of the user)is below a predetermined threshold chosen to be indicative thathistorically vaping does not occur in this location.

If the count is below this threshold, then the mobile communicationdevice 400 may transmit a command to the e-cigarette 10 to modify itsbehavior.

For example the command may cause the e-cigarette 10 to activate awarning light such as a flashing red light, thereby warning the userthat they may be about to vape in an area where this is discouraged evenif they have not consulted the mobile communication device.

Similarly the command may cause the e-cigarette 10 to prevent vaping bynot activating its heater 310 in response to an inhalation by the user;this may be triggered in response to the count being below a lowerthreshold, for example at or close to zero, optionally in conjunctionthe condition that a neighboring map region has a count above apredetermined threshold indicating that the low count at the location ofinterest is not due to a potential lack of readings.

Such a command may be accompanied by a message displayed on the mobilecommunication device 400 by the app to explain to the user why warninglight has been turned on and/or vaping has been disabled.

In these circumstances the user may override such commands either usingan interface of the mobile communication device 400 or a suitable buttonor other interface on the e-cigarette 10.

Using the above techniques, a system comprising the electronic cigarette10 the mobile communication device 400 and the vaping heat map server1300 can generate and subsequently supply heat map information to theuser.

As was described previously herein, typically the e-cigarette 10 ispaired to the mobile communication device 400 and so data indicatingthat a vaping connection has taken place is transmitted privatelybetween the e-cigarette 10 and the mobile communication device 400.

However, this limits the number of potential readings that can beobtained at the server 1300 to those from users whose mobilecommunication devices 400 comprise the suitable software and who havepaired their electronic cigarette to their mobile communication device400. Whilst it is reasonable to assume that these people represent arandom and uncorrelated subset of e-cigarette 10 users and hence a mapbased upon their data will be a reasonable sample of behavior, it couldbe beneficial to obtain a wider dataset in some circumstances.

Therefore optionally e-cigarettes 10 may broadcast detected vapingactions without the need for pairing, for example as part of aBluetooth® low energy advertisement beacon broadcasting a prearrangedcode indicative of a vaping action. The mobile communication device 400could log each detection of this prearranged code. Since the code itselfis standardized, it is anonymous, and any unique identification dataincorporated into the advertisement beacon would only be used to preventmultiple logging of the same action by the mobile communication device400 and would not be retained for any significant period, or madeaccessible to the user or transmitted to the server 1300.

Consequently a mobile communication device 400 equipped with thesuitable software could detect the vaping actions of other users intheir locality, thereby more rapidly populating the vaping heat map atthe server.

Hence in summary, referring to FIG. 11, a method of generating of avaping heat map comprises:

at s111, detecting a vaping action at an electronic vapor provisionsystem;

at s112, logging a set of GPS coordinates in response to detection of avaping action;

at s113, transmitting one or more logged sets of GPS coordinates to avaping heat map server; and

at s114 updating a vaping count in one or more map regions responsive tothe or each transmitted set of GPS coordinates.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that variations inthe above method corresponding to operation of the various embodimentsof the apparatus as described and claimed herein are considered withinthe scope of the present disclosure, including but not limited to:

-   -   detecting when a vaping count in a map region exceeds a first        predetermined threshold, and if so, dividing the map region into        two or more new smaller map regions, and updating a vaping count        for each of the new smaller map regions;    -   the logging step comprising logging a time in association with a        set of GPS coordinates in response to detection of a vaping        action, the transmitting step comprising transmitting a time in        association with the or each set of GPS coordinates, and the        updating step comprising updating a vaping count corresponding        to a predetermined time period in one or more map regions        responsive to the or each transmitted set of GPS coordinates and        the respective associated time;    -   the detecting step comprising receiving, at a mobile        communication device, a signal from an electronic vapor        provision system paired to the mobile communication device, the        signal indicating that a vaping action has occurred; and    -   the detecting step comprising receiving, at a mobile        communication device, a broadcast signal from an electronic        vapor provision system indicating that a vaping action has        occurred.

A corresponding electronic vapor provision system comprises a pressuresensor arranged to detect an inhalation through the electronic vaporprovision system by a user, and a communications interface arranged totransmit a wireless signal, in response to a detected inhalation,indicating that a vaping action has occurred.

Similarly, a corresponding mobile communications device comprises areceiver arranged to detect a signal from an electronic vapor provisionsystem indicating that a vaping action has occurred, a GPS receiveroperable to obtain a set of GPS co-ordinates, a processor arranged tolog a set of GPS co-ordinates obtained substantially when the signal wasdetected, and a transmitter arranged to transmit one or more logged setsof GPS coordinates to a vaping heat map server.

Again similarly, a corresponding vaping heat map server comprises areceiver arranged to receive one or more logged sets of GPS co-ordinatesfrom a mobile communication device, a memory adapted to store a vapingheat map comprising one or more map regions, and a processor arranged toupdate a vaping count in one or more map regions responsive to the oreach transmitted set of GPS coordinates.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 12, a method of retrieving a vaping heatmap comprises:

at s121, receiving from a remote device a request for a vapor heat map,the request comprising a location of interest (such as the user'scurrent set of GPS coordinates);

at s122, identifying one or more map regions within a predetermineddistance of a map position corresponding to the location of interest;

at s123, retrieving the or each respective count corresponding to the oreach identified map region; and

at s124, transmitting data indicative of the or each count to the remotedevice.

It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that variations inthe above method corresponding to operation of the various embodimentsof the apparatus as described and claimed herein are considered withinthe scope of the present disclosure, including but not limited to:

-   -   the transmitting comprising transmitting data indicative of the        extent of the or each map region within the predetermined        distance;    -   the transmitting step comprising transmitting a graphical image        indicative of the count in the or each map region within the        predetermined distance;    -   determining whether a count within a map region corresponding to        the location of interest is below a second predetermined        threshold;        -   if so, transmitting machine-readable data from the server            indicating that the location of interest is not habitually            used for vaping, and/or transmitting from the mobile            communication device to the electronic vapor provision            system a command modifying the behavior of the electronic            vapor provision system.

A corresponding electronic vapor provision system comprises acommunications interface arranged to receive a command from a remotedevice modifying the behavior of the electronic vapor provision system,such as to activate a warning indicator or prevent vapor provision.

Similarly a corresponding mobile communication device comprises atransmitter arranged to transmit a vaping heat map request to a vapingheat map server, the vaping heat map request specifying a location ofinterest, and a receiver arranged to receive data indicative of theamount of historical vaping activity within a predetermined range of thelocation of interest; and the processor is arranged to generate adisplay representative of the data on a display of the mobilecommunication device.

Again similarly a corresponding vaping heat map server comprises areceiver arranged to receive a vaping heat map request from a mobilecommunication device the request comprising, data identifying a locationof interest, a processor is arranged to Identify one or more map regionswithin a predetermined distance of a map position corresponding to thelocation of interest, a processor is arranged to retrieve the or eachrespective count corresponding to the or each identified map region, anda transmitter arranged to transmit data indicative of the or each countto the mobile communication device.

It will be appreciated that the electronic vapor provision system(e-cigarette), the mobile communication device (smart phone, tabletetc.,) and server may respectively implement plural embodimentsdescribed herein.

Hence for example the e-cigarette may be equipped to receive commandsfrom the mobile communication device and/or transmit detected vapingactivity, whilst the mobile communication device may be equipped totransmit commands responsive to vaping policies and/or threshold vapingcounts.

Similarly the mobile communication device may be equipped to transmitGPS coordinates to the server for the purpose of identifying itslocation in order to retrieve vaping policy data for a host countryand/or a vapor heat map of the immediate locality (whether abroad or athome), and/or may transmit a country code to the server for the purposeof retrieving vaping policy data.

Similarly the server may maintain map data at a country level for vapingpolicy data (or at a state or town level where state or civic vapingpolicies apply) and/or may maintain map data at smaller subdivisions forvaping count data. The server may then provide vaping policy data and/orvaping count data to a mobile communications device that transmits arequest indicating a location of interest for such data.

It will also be appreciated that the any of the methods described hereinmay be carried out on conventional hardware suitably adapted asapplicable by software instruction or by the inclusion or substitutionof dedicated hardware.

Thus the required adaptation to existing parts of a conventionalequivalent device may be implemented in the form of a computer programproduct comprising processor implementable instructions stored on atangible non-transitory machine-readable medium such as a floppy disk,optical disk, hard disk, PROM, RAM, flash memory or any combination ofthese or other storage media, or realized in hardware as an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit) or an FPGA (field programmablegate array) or other configurable circuit suitable to use in adaptingthe conventional equivalent device. Separately, such a computer programmay be transmitted via data signals on a network such as an Ethernet, awireless network, the Internet, or any combination of these of othernetworks.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, this disclosureshows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimedinvention(s) may be practiced. The advantages and features of thedisclosure are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and arenot exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to assist inunderstanding and to teach the claimed invention(s). It is to beunderstood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features,structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to beconsidered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims orlimitations on equivalents to the claims, and that other embodiments maybe utilized and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the claims. Various embodiments may suitably comprise, consistof, or consist essentially of, various combinations of the disclosedelements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc other thanthose specifically described herein. The disclosure may include otherinventions not presently claimed, but which may be claimed in future.

1. A method of providing a map of vaping action events, comprising:receiving from a remote device a request for the map, the requestcomprising data indicating a location of interest; identifying one ormore map regions in the map within a predetermined distance of a mapposition corresponding to the location of interest; retrieving arespective vaping action count corresponding to the one or moreidentified map regions; and transmitting data indicative of therespective vaping action count to the remote device.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting data indicativeof an extent of the one or more map regions within the predetermineddistance.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprisestransmitting a graphical image indicative of the respective vapingaction count in the one or more map regions within the predetermineddistance.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether a vaping action count within a map region corresponding to thelocation of interest is below a predetermined threshold.
 5. The methodof claim 4, wherein, if the vaping action count is below thepredetermined threshold, the transmitting comprises transmittingmachine-readable data indicating that the location of interest isassociated with a map region having a low vaping action count.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein, if the vaping action count is below thepredetermined threshold, transmitting from the remote device to anelectronic vapor provision system a command modifying a behavior of theelectronic vapor provision system.
 7. A mobile communication device,comprising: a transmitter arranged to transmit a request for a map ofvaping action events to a vaping map server, the map request specifyinga location of interest; a receiver arranged to receive data indicativeof an amount of previous vaping activity within a predetermined range ofthe location of interest; and a processor arranged to generate a displayrepresentative of the data on a display of the mobile communicationdevice.
 8. The mobile communication device according to claim 7, whereinthe processor is operable to detect whether the amount of previousvaping activity at the location of interest is below a threshold amount,and if so: the transmitter is arranged to transmit a command to anelectronic vapor provision system to modify a behavior of the electronicvapor provision system.
 9. The mobile communication device according toclaim 7, further comprising: a GPS receiver operable to obtain a set ofGPS coordinates; wherein: the receiver is arranged to detect a signalfrom an electronic vapor provision system indicating that a vapingaction has occurred; the processor is arranged to log GPS coordinatesobtained substantially when the signal was detected; and the transmitteris arranged to transmit the logged GPS coordinates to the vaping heatmap server.
 10. A vaping map server, comprising: a receiver arranged toreceive: respective notifications of vaping action events andcorresponding GPS coordinates from respective mobile communicationdevices, and a map request from a mobile communication device, the maprequest comprising data identifying a location of interest; a memoryadapted to store a map of vaping action events comprising one or moremap regions; a processor arranged to: update a vaping action count inthe one or more map regions in the map responsive to the received GPScoordinates, identify one or more map regions within a predetermineddistance of a map position corresponding to the location of interest,and retrieve the vaping action count corresponding to the identified oneor more map regions; and a transmitter is arranged to transmit dataindicative of the vaping action count to the mobile communicationdevice.